1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a protective sports glove having a segmented cuff roll.
2. Background Art
Various protective sporting gloves have been developed over the years for use in lacrosse, hockey, cricket, and other similar contact sports. Protective sports gloves are particularly important to protect a player's hands, wrists, and lower forearms from impacts from the equipment, such as hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks, pucks, balls, skates, and the like, as well as impacts between participants.
Unfortunately, as the protection provided by these gloves increases, the user of these prior art gloves often experiences a reduction in the amount of flexibility he has in his hand due to the configuration of the glove. This reduction in flexibility can substantially reduce the effectiveness and level of play of a participant wearing the glove. There are several areas of the hand in particular that need to maintain an increased level of flexibility and yet still need a high level of protection, such as the various joints of the fingers and hand including the wrist. The wrist area can be especially problematic due to the high degree of flexibility within the wrist. For example, the hand can extend in the direction from the back of the forearm to the palm side of the forearm in a range of approximately 180 degrees. This degree of rotation combined with the size of the wrist and forearm areas that need to be protected through this full range of motion presents increased problems.
In particular, sports like lacrosse and hockey necessitate a substantial range of motion of the wrists for precise manipulation of the stick, and as such flexibility of the gloves around the wrist joints must be maximal. In order to sustain as complete of a range of motion as possible for the hand at the wrist, the padding or protection on the forearm and wrist should not substantially restrict the flexibility of the forearm, wrist and hand.
Many current protective sports gloves utilize cuff rolls to protect a player's wrist between the cuff and the hand portion. The cuff roll is particularly important when a player flexes his or her hands during play, because the area between the cuff and hand portion may otherwise be vulnerable. While most cuff rolls provide adequate protection, they may provide limited flexibility and adjustability and can therefore be uncomfortable. Because of these limitations, they are sometimes removed or not used by players.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art to develop a protective sports glove that provides increased protection for a wearer's hand, wrist, and/or forearm without unduly decreasing flexibility.